It seems that Jackie Hawley has brought a personal, private issue into
the public light with her and her friend's emails attacking Barbara Ludt.
Seeing such a caring woman as Barbara be portrayed in such terms is a real
shame.  I am appalled by the lies being presented as facts by these folks.
How dare Jackie, Jim and Sue attempt to denigrate the unselfish work of a
woman devoted to the care and protection of animals!  Barbara has devoted
her life to the causes of animals.  Many of the new subscribers to this
list may be unfamiliar with Barbara because she works so diligently and
quietly in the background, so I'd like to tell my experiences with Barbara.
 
I've known Barbara for over 5 years.  We met when she stepped in to assist
Brevard Ferret Lovers Rescue's rescue of 13 ferrets.  The ferrets had been
confiscated from an abusive breeder in Lake City and were being held at the
Humane Society there.  Barbara stepped in to help, making contact with Mrs.
Smith, director of the Humane Society, to ensure Mrs. Smith was educated
as to the needs of ferrets, both in the care of the ones in her custody
and the remaining ones at the breeder.  Barbara also made the arrangements
to pick up the ferrets, drive up to Lake City to get them, schedule
neutering/spaying and descenting surgeries at Dr Kemmerer's office, and
coordinate the transfer of the ferrets to BFLR.
 
I've worked with Barbara on a number of rescues since that time.  Including
the Operation SAFE rescue that Sue Thomas mentioned.  However, the manner
in which Barbara was portrayed by Sue was totally incorrect and I think
needs to be set straight.  (For the record, my dealings with Sue have been
limited to her calling me and begging BFLR repeatedly for supplies and
funds.)
 
While Sue Thomas may have been the one to make initial contact with the
breeder in Okeechobee, Barbara was the mastermind behind that rescue.  She
brought together folks from all over the state and arranged every detail
of that rescue from her location in the north end of the state.  For those
not familiar with Florida, Okeechobee is in the center of the state in the
very southern portion and Jacksonville, where Barbara lives, is in the
Northeast corner of the state.  A drive that would take at least 5 hours.
 
Barbara arranged AND PAID FOR OUT OF HER OWN POCKET a truck to be rented, a
hotel room for the folks who drove down to the farm, and for cages to be
outfitted for everyone of those ferrets.  Each one of those cages were
outfitted with food/water dishes, a litter box, hammock, soft bedding and
cage tag.  Again, all of these supplies were provided by Barbara personally
and Angela of SFFC&R, the parent shelter.
 
Please see http://www.miamiferret.org to more details.  Click on rescue
operations to get the more details and see pictures of this rescue.  These
animals were delivered to Dr. Kemmerer's office, again arranged by Barbara,
where each adult was neutered/spayed and descented.  Some donations were
received to offset the cost of this rescue, but the majority of these
surgeries were paid for by Barbara with personal funds.  From there, many
foster homes were arranged for these animals.  To this day, I am unsure as
to if Barbara was ever reimbursed for the thousands of dollars in vet bills
she and her husband paid for out of pocket.  Both in regards to this rescue
as well as for other situations since that time.
 
As far as Jackie's assertion that she was not informed of the hearing date,
I'm sure this was not the case.  Florida courts are not in the habit of
keeping hearings secret to the parties involved, quite the opposite, in
fact.  The Florida courts are overwhelmed with cases and would like to
resolve them as quickly as possible.  They would like all parties involved
to attend the scheduled hearing so as to quickly resolve the dispute.
 
I know that Barbara was greatly upset by the unfolding of events with the
Jackie Hawley/Ben situation.  She made countless attempts to resolve this
issue, and only brought it to the courts when Jackie refused to work with
Barbara in coming to a mutually acceptable conclusion.  Instead, it seemed
that Jackie's actions were more motivated by her own feelings rather than
zze best interest of the animals.  (Barbara even offered to allow Jackie
to formally adopt Ben - all Jackie had to do was sign the adoption form.
Jackie refused.)  For the record, this is not the first time that Jackie
has played games with Barbara.
[Posted in FML issue 3269]